CONWY Borough are out of the JD Welsh Cup after a 2-1 home reverse to Huws Gray Alliance rivals Rhyl.

The Tangerines were unable to replicate their league victory against the Lilywhites to exit the competition at the first-round stage, and Gareth Thomas’ men will look to put things right and continue their positive second tier start when they travel to Prestatyn Town on Friday (7.30pm).

The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges and spurned the first opportunity of the game on nine minutes when Barry Torrence fired wide after good work from in-form winger Aaron Hassall.

They finally managed to break the deadlock in fortunate circumstances after 20 minutes when a Torrence effort found its way past Boro stopper Keighan Jones, and Gerwyn Jones’ desperate attempts to divert the chance resulted in the defender putting the ball into his own net.

Mike Pritchard and Kristian Pierce both went close to doubling the Lilies advantage midway through the half, with prolific striker Corrig McGonigle forcing Rory Crowther into a smart stop at the other end with 39 on the clock.

After the break saw the visitors continue to probe and they added to their tally on 52 minutes when Mike Pritchard effort looped over Jones, and it somehow hit the goalkeeper on the back of the head in his attempts to get back and save the effort to seal their second own goal of the tie.

Thomas’ men responded well to the setback and got themselves back into the contest straight from the kick-off when recent signing from Connah’s Quay Nomads Connor Harwood diverted a cross past Crowther to half the deficit.

The away side should have sealed the tie on 73 minutes when Torrence missed the target from close range after fine work down the wing from James Murphy and Pritchard, but they managed to see the game out to advance to the next round despite the hosts putting them under significant pressure in the closing stages.